Avon council debates mayoral choice

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AVON, Colorado - Rich Carroll will serve a second two-year term as Avon's mayor, but he faced some competition for the job.

The Avon Town Council selects a new mayor after every town council election, which happen every two years. The mayor is selected by other council members.

During the brief time the town was mayor-less Tuesday, Carroll was selected to run the meeting. When he asked for nominations for mayor, council member Dave Dantas nominated fellow council member Buz Reynolds. New council member Jennie Fancher nominated Carroll.

Carroll was then elected by a 5-2 vote. Reynolds voted for himself, as did Dantas.

What makes this story somewhat unusual is that mayors are often selected by secret ballot, and the discussions leading to those votes aren't often public.

In this case, both incumbent and new council members asked questions of both men - the biggest one being, "Why do you want this job?"

Reynolds answered that his background and experience in town made him the best candidate.

Carroll said he'd like the opportunity to "give back to the normal part of town" after spending virtually his entire first term as mayor wrestling with the dispute between the town and the developers of The Village at Avon.

Before the council voted to give Carroll another term, town resident Michael Cacioppo praised the group for doing its business in open session.

"It's refreshing to watch the transparency here, and I'd recommend to other groups in Eagle County that they follow your example," Cacioppo said. "I'm convinced you don't know what you're going to do right now... Typically I go to meetings and I know there's been previous discussion."